They all understood that arriving at Miranze was only the first step, and how to reach the city safely was the top priority. Keli shook the bell and all the camels stopped in place.
He paused for a moment, looked at everyone and explained: "When we leave, we need to stay farther away from these tidal flats and ponds. The reason why we haven't dried up for so long is as I said yesterday. I will lead the camel later." Just take one step and you can follow the route I took."
"Don't be scared. Miranze has been dry for thousands of years. The closer to the edge, the longer it takes to dry out, and the thicker the salt crust becomes. When you reach the middle of the salt crust, silt will begin to appear underneath. At that time, We have to be careful.”
Having said that, Keli had already taken up his camel and took the first step while ringing the camel bell. After he walked half a meter, everyone started to follow up and walked in the salt-crust wasteland.
Along the way, walking on the lake basin salt crust is no different from that on land. The only difference is that the salt crust under your feet is very thick and hard. The texture is close to the cement floor. Some protruding salt platforms are very sharp. At the same time, the surface has appeared due to drying. There are many cracked lines, and between these lines, there are smaller cracks and particles. The cracks are full of salt-alkali particles exposed by the sun.
They walked through many sand dunes and salt-alkali flats. When they reached the center of the lake basin, the soil gradually became softer, just like the soil that had been frozen and softened throughout the winter. Although there was no water under their feet, there was still water under their feet. It felt so soft that even the camel's hooves began to sink into the mud.
The closer you get to the outskirts of Secret Orchid City, the more you can feel that the land is getting softer and moister. When you reach the largest sand mountain in the center, the salt-crust hard ground in front of everyone has disappeared, and swamps covered with yellow sand have begun to appear.
The salt crust is covered with sand mountains. Due to the lack of water, wind and water erosion has continuously eroded a large amount of sand and filled the salt crust. The swamps are full of flowing mud and silt. After these swamps are covered with yellow sand, they look like flat land. , when you really walk into it, you will find that it is trapped by the mud under the yellow sand, and it is difficult to pull out the legs and feet.
What's even more amazing is that as the quicksand is disturbed, the originally peaceful underground river also rises and forms a whirlpool, causing the silt to carry a large amount of sand and continuously flow along the periphery of the oasis. It looks like a turbulent river. Flowing sand river.
"Could this be the Liusha River?"
Wang Yuanlu liked the story of Xuanzang's Westward Journey the most. When he saw the yellow sand flowing like water, he felt that what they were seeing was the Liusha River in the story painting.
Song Siyuan knelt down, picked up a block of saline-alkali soil and smashed it in. As the block of saline-alkali soil sank into the quicksand, a vortex immediately formed on the spot.
She nodded to everyone: "Judging from the condition, this is indeed a quicksand river, but it is not water, but a state of muddy sand. No object can escape from the pressure environment created by the mud. You can only get caught in the quicksand.”
While they were talking, the camel in front of them was trampled, and the hard shell under their feet was broken. In the blink of an eye, the camel's front hooves were knocked down, and half of its body fell into the quicksand.
"Moo~~"
The camel became very panicked when it got stuck in the quicksand. It flailed its body and tried to climb out of the quicksand. It kept shouting in a panic and looked at the person with a trace of tears in its eyes.
This kind of quicksand is just like the silt in a swamp. As the contact area between the body and the silt increases, a suction force will be formed between the body and the silt, making it difficult to escape. In fact, the more you thrash about, the more the silt will grow. The contact area with the body until the body is engulfed.
At this moment, he saw half of the camel's body sinking into it. Keli regarded the animal as a friend, so he took out the hemp rope from his waist and threw it. However, the whirlpool moved very fast. By the time he threw the rope, the camel was already in the quicksand. He changed his position under his arms.
So many times, only the head is left of the camel's body. Whether it is a person or an animal, as long as the body sinks more than one-third into the quicksand, it will be difficult to pull it out under the pressure of the mud. This also means that the camel's chance of survival , is already very slim.
At this moment, Keli was thinking about the current situation and had already understood the situation. He raised the shotgun, pulled the trigger, and shot the camel in the head.
At least, it would allow him to die a little more happily and not be choked to death by quicksand and silt!
In an instant, the camel's head was bloody and bloody. The blood soaked into the mud along the quicksand. As the quicksand surged, it instantly dyed the sand and mud around the camel red.
Perhaps the smell of blood spreads too far. Among the many whirlpools in the sand, something is obviously flying up and down, just like a jellyfish swimming on the sea surface. Sometimes it comes out of the water and sometimes hides under the quicksand. Watch its swimming route. , obviously coming for the dead camel.
Keli looked at the swimming arc in the quicksand and his face became serious: "We continue to retreat, something is coming here."
They led the remaining camels and kept retreating to the harder salt crust. They only stopped slightly until the salt crust under their feet returned to the hardness of cement and no longer had a soft texture.
This place is already tens of meters away from the Quicksand River. Even so, they can see the arc drawing the quicksand waves approaching the camel. Then, something like a blanket suddenly flew out from the quicksand and directly hit the camel. Roll it up, and quickly wrap the camel in a short period of time, just like a shroud, leaving only its head.
After about a stick of incense, the strong camel continued to wither, and even the skin began to become loose and loose. The blanket became fuller, making the camel look like a dry bone, emaciated and dry.
When the blanket was released from the camel, the dry camel lost its weight and was instantly swallowed up by the quicksand. The surrounding blood gradually diluted as the silt circulated, returning to its normal color.
"Strange, a blanket can eat a camel?"
Stretching out through the blanket, they began to take a closer look at the blanket.
The area of this blanket is not small, almost as big as the roof. It is about three to four meters long and wide. It is oval or irregular rectangular in shape, and its thickness is close to that of an ordinary cowhide blanket.
The whole body is covered with fine velvet similar to cowhide hair. It looks like a blanket made of woven hair. The hair on the back is slightly green. At first glance, I thought it was the fluffy green moss on the stones by the river. As the waves in the swamp grew, The quicksand floats slowly.
When you roll it up, you can see the head hidden under the blanket. Its head is similar to that of a snail. The gray-black and white head is full of patterns, and it can change the shape of the head when it expands and contracts.
But no matter how it changes, two snail tentacles shaped like horns and a slimy mouth are always secreting mucus. This mucus makes the head always wet. It looks slightly translucent with liquid, and there is something similar from the eyebrow bone to the back of the head. Laminated sarcoma of cockscomb.
Its eyes are round in shape, with vertical pupils resembling cocoons, which are very much like the eyes of a lizard or snake. There is a slender, arm-long tail swimming behind the blanket, which is very similar to the tail of a snake. The tail is particularly sharp and can be seen. Few fine hairs cover the tail.
